Garmin nuvi 880 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin nuvi 880 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: Best Yet
Summary: 5 Stars
Have been using the Garmin Nuvi 880 for several months and on two trips over 2000 miles each. It is as advertised, the best yet by Garmin or any other I have seen. I was somewhat leary about the voice recognition but it works, about 90% accurate on the first try.
The hands free phone connection is a plus although the volume at interstate speeds could be higher.
The "find place by name" feature is my favorite, so easy to just speak 'Starbucks' and let the unit find one.
All in all, I give it five stars.
Digital camera Review: Best there is for a handheld
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently bought an 880 having using a 660 for the last 1.5 years. I have owned 5 Garmins, 3 Lowrances, a Magellen, and have borrowed several of the latest TomTom's on occassion and I can say that, without a doubt, this is the most complete and easy to use hand held/portable navigator I've ever used. Let me explain....
Capability
Garmin packs an amazing amount of capability into this device - Routes, amazing POI search capabilities, a HUGE database of POI's, extensive customization options, beautiful, easy to read display, decent battery life for use when walking, an array of charging methods (will even charge via USB from your computer) MSN, and many more. No other portable navigator has the breadth of features of the 880. It's truly the "top of the line". For this I give it a 5+
Ease of Use
Thte Nuvi OS in general is quite easy to use. It was the first ever GPS navigator that my wife, who is not into gadgets, could use with absolutely no instructions. In fact, it's so easy to use she WANTS to use it. Same goes for my father-in-law who is completely technology challenged. He learned how to use it with only about 5 minutes of basic instruction. As easy to use as it is, you still get access to advanced features and the "ease of use" doesn't get in your way. Once you learn some of the "shortcuts" (like holding down a "back" button to go all the way back to the main menu in one press) it becomes even easier to use. Without a doubt this is the easiest to use of all portable navigators I've used (which is quite a few). I give ease of use a "5".
Searching
Searching for POI's on the Nuvi continues to be quite good. However, I'd like to see some improvements to the categories. For instance, it's amazing that all Nuvi's don't have a category for RV related POI's like "RV Resorts", "RV supplies", etc. You have to search by spelling for "RV" which also returns things like "Joe's Soft SeRVe Ice Cream". A nice improvement on the 880 is the capability to skip putting in the city when searching for an address. Over all the search functions are the best I've seen on a portable GPS navigator but because there are some small and basic improvements I give searching a 4.5 rather than a 5.
Maps
The maps are "good enough" for the most part on the 880 and the other Nuiv's however, having used quite a few other navigators I have a few gripes.
1. My overall biggest complaint is WHY doesn't Garmin have a more frequent update capability for their maps? They know how to do this stuff because their aviation products have it where you can subscribe to updates every 28 days. Other manufacturers are no better but Garmin has the know how (in partnership with Jeppesen). We should be able to get incremental updates rather than waiting for 1-2 years for a complete map database update. This is a huge issue.
2. Accuracy. The maps Garmin uses (which they buy from Navtek) are "acceptable" but in my travels I find annoying errors. For instance, I'm currently staying with my son at a USAF base. The Navtek maps are mostly accurate for the base (missing one of the entry gates) and surrounding areas but when I ask the 880 to take me somewhere off the base it tries to route me straight through a 10 foot tall barbed wire fence rather than through the main gates. This is a map problem not a GPS software problem.
3. POI's display. The 880 and the other Nuvi's give you the option of displaying POI's on the map page but they don't show all of them for some reason. This is not a map problem but rather they way Garmin has choosen to display the maps. If I tell it to display all POI's on the map then it should do it.
4. Map Detail. My aviation Garmin units have very detailed maps which include lots of detail on unpaved roads and associated POI's and when you use them in automotive mode you get to see this detail. My cheap, difficult to use and unreliable, Lowrance 350 shows a lot of this as well. This is very useful for off-roading. To get this for the Nuvi's you have to buy Garmins Topographical maps.
Overall, I give the maps on the 880 (and other Nuvi's) a "4". The maps are probably good enough for 90% of owners but could be improved in my opinion.
Voice Recognition
To be succinct, the voice recognition is AWESOME. It works incredibly well even in the high noise of my Jeep Wrangle. It is nearly flawless. I'll caution that I do not have any sort of accent though and I have no idea how it behaves if you do not speak "standard" english. Of course it would be great if it was just like "Hal" on 2001 A Space Odessey where you can just talk to it conversationally but that capability is still a few years away because of the computing power required. The 880 only responds to specific commands but it works amazingly well. Give that I understand the state of the technology, the only improvment I'd like to see is the ability to optionally turn off the voice prompting. For example, when you select a POI to navigate to, it takes you to a screen which requires you to say "Yes" to begin navigation but before you can say "Yes" you have to wait for the GPS to say, "Say Yes to navigate to this location" (or something like that). Once you are familiar with the unit you don't need those prompts and you can use it much more quickly without them. Overall, I give the voice recognition a 5 given the current state of technology.
Summary
The 880 is an AWESOME unit. The initial price is rather high compared to other navigators but it most certainly will come down. I tend to wait for the first price drop on such things these days but I found the 880 so compelling, capable, and desirable I bought it only a few weeks after it was released at only a slight discount and have no remorse. I feel the 880 is the absolute best consumer handheld/portable GPS automotive navigator available today - bar none. I give it a pragmatic and objective 4 only because of the Map issues I noted however I will say you can't do better than the 880 at this point in time and relative to all other units on the market it is definitely a "5+".
Digital camera Review: Better than ever
Summary: 4 Stars
As full time RVers, we have been using navigation systems since their infancy. User friendliness, accuracy, voice commands and an easy to read screen make this unit a must-have. A buggaboo we've run into relates to the voice commands. We have a very large, noisy truck (a small semi-tractor,really) and the unit, on occasion, has difficulty understanding my voice commands.
Note: this unit is not recommended for motorcycles as it is not waterproof. However, we have it mounted on our motor scooter. Unfortunately, the Garmin's Bluetooth won't sync with our helmets communication system. Not sure which device is at fault.
Unit works well when plugged in. However, the battery has relatively low capacity untethered.
Digital camera Review: Completely Handsfree (Almost!)
Summary: 4 Stars
I gave the Garmin Nuvi 880 4 stars because, for me, it really does what I want and need. I have run into a few minor glitches that are NOT the 880's problem, but a Garmin issue.
First, the pros:
1. It gets me just about anywhere I want to go. Look, I don't care if I know a shortcut, but the Nuvi 880 doesn't. I really don't need it when navigating to places I am familiar with. But, in unfamiliar places it does a real nice job of getting me to my destination.
2. The voice activated system is great. I have used it for around a month now, and I am having few problems with it.
3. The MSN Direct has really been a nice feature. On trips to the Los Angeles area and Las Vegas it "kicked in" automatically to warn us of severe traffic situations ahead, and closed roads. I have used it to find movies and show times, as well as weather reports.
4. I am hard of hearing and use hearing aids, so I like using the connection from the Nuvi to my AUX port on my radio. I can easily hear everything the Nuvi is telling me.
5. I used it in pedestrian mode once. It worked really well. I bought a fanny pack to take it with me when I leave the car. However, it actually fits in the pocket of cargo pants.
6. I use the bluetooth feature all the time. It was absolutely no effort to sync with my phone.
7. On a recent trip I was using the "Where Am I" mode a lot. It has an elevation feature built into it. We were traveling high mountain roads and we used the Nuvi to get the elevation. It was all in fun.
Now, the Cons:
1A. I don't know why Garmin leaves every house on my street off it's maps. The street AND street name appear, BUT try putting in an address of any house on my street, and it chooses another street in the neighborhood instead. My wife has had a Garmin 300 series for a couple of years and has the same problem. She tried updating the software, but nothing changes. How many other locations are missing?
1B. Just for fun I was going to navigate to our Credit Union. The Nuvi wanted to send me to where the Credit Union Used to be located. This could be an updating issue, but the Credit Union moved around 4 years ago. This bothers me because I don't know how many potential places I could navigate to are actually in a different location, and have been for years.
2. The voice system is great. I have no real issues with it. However, it has a hard time understanding your commands if there is too much noise. Road noise is not the problem. It happens only when others are talking at the same time you are trying to give it commands. Also, my a/c was too loud once.
3. The MSN Direct is a nice feature. I would like to see it expanded into more areas. You have to be in the few service areas it has in order to receive the info. However, I know the service areas are expanding all the time. My one "BIG" complaint is the updating of this service. I used it the other day to find a movie and the times it would be playing. I should have called ahead because the movie was NOT playing at the two theaters I went to. This is no big deal because I called a third place I found. I used to Nuvi to give me the theater's phone number!
4.I tried using the FM transmitter to have a wireless hookup to my car's radio. I have had no success with it. But, the AUX port works fine.
5. As for pedestrian mode! Well, I would like to see some type of mode indicator on the main map. Why? It's no big deal, but I forgot to put the mode back from pedestrian to automobile when we in Las Vegas. On the day we left everything on the Nuvi seemed really messed up. It was telling us we wouldn't get home until some rediculous time, and it would stop telling us as we drove down the road that it was recalculating the route. It thought we were walking home (about 800 miles). My fault, and it will never happen again.
6. Bluetooth. My cell phone syncs with the Nuvi 880. But not entirely. The only thing it will let me do is make and receive calls. Not a real problem. However, my wife sync'd her phone up and got just about all of her phone's features such as address book, texting, etc. I don't text, but I would like to use my address book.
Not much to complain about. I found the Nuvi 880 to be very useful for me. I don't consider it to be an expensive toy. I really do benefit from the features it has. One more thing to consider:
I have recently (Last Year) been diagnosed with an eye condition called Macular Pucker. It does not lead to blindness, but straight lines aren't exactly straight anymore. It could clear itself up on it's own, or maybe surgery is in the future. I can read road signs, menus, and other printed material, but it is frustraing as small print letters can "run" into each other sometimes. The hands frre, voice activated Nuvi 880 allows me to bypass most of the looking at small print and typing in of names and addresses. For this feature alone it was worth every penny.
4/9/2009
Just thought I would share my experiences since last summer. The same minor issues are still there, but the Garmin is working just fine. Always getting me to m y destination, phone calls are being made and received just fine, and no major problems to report. I have used it all over the state of California without a hitch.
One of the things I have to say about this entire experience is I have learned to understand the gps instructions better. For example when it says to "stay left and continue right" It makes sense because some freeway intersections are complicated, and you don't really get it until you've experienced it. It is the small things that take a little getting used to that make the difference. As a consequence, I have rounded the learning curve. However, it did NOT take me 6 moths to accomplish this. The learning took a lot less time. I'm just updating my comments so anyone who might read them will know that I am still using the Garmin 880, and still enjoying it. I would update my rating to 5 stars because the price has really dropped so, I think it is a good bargain, and the little quirky things about gps's in general seem to disappear as the cost goes down. Also, I really like the MSN traffic alerts, and all the features that go along with it.
Digital camera Review: Do not buy!
Summary: 1 Stars
Having been pleased with my Garmin Street Pilot 2720, I looked forward to the Garmin nuvi 880, with hands-free telephone, FM connection, and more. 1)It responds inconsistently to my loud voice commands, 2)the person I call can hear my voice, but their voice is too soft for me to hear, 3)if I switch to having sound transmitted through my radio, I can hear their voice but this replaces my radio transmission, and 4)I could go on with how unsatisfactory it is in all of the "advances" in this new instrument. Talking to Garmin was a total waste of time and zero help. I am seriously thinking of returning it to the dealer, but just haven't gotten around to it.